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In the parable we are told that a priest and later a Levite came and made a detour around the man in need. These oligarchs, though minor ones, didn't want to get involved. And how could they? They came empty handed. Oil and wine was not something in their possession.
One might argue here that the priest and Levite may have acted correctly, that they acted in a manner that prevented them from getting involved, from extending a willful controlling influence over another. One might argue that their actions were a step away from oligarchism. In divine Science, however, this avoidance of responsibility to advance the human development is to be recognized as a form of oligarchism itself, that needs to be guarded against, for its base is spiritual poverty by which oligarchism fundamentally rules. We see the same spiritual poverty imposing unspeakable austerity onto literally every nation on earth, today. The priest and Levite were oligarchs by virtue of their denial of the truth about man as divine image, by virtue of their denial of the worth and value of man, and man's boundless potential. This is what they stood for, which was merely illustrated in the example that Christ Jesus presented. This value, in contrast, is what the Samaritan responded to. He poured oil and wine into the man's wounds, but he was not controlling the man. He brought him to an inn and provided for his support, but he made no demands on the man. The Samaritan supported the development of life, and then stepped back.
Oligarchism is antidevelopment oriented because of its root in spiritual poverty which has no strength and substance in itself. Its history of power has been in debasing others, either through authoritative assertion or through looting, or both. This poverty breeds an atmosphere of denial of the reality of divine Truth and its reflection in man, an atmosphere that manifests itself in spiritual, social, scientific, and cultural devolution manifest in technological pessimism, economic disintegration, euthanasia, anarchy, crime, terrorism and barbarism. Christ Jesus was evidently more concerned with the root cause of oligarchism and its mode of operation, than with its possible final outcome two centuries later.
Far from pouring in oil and wine into the wounds of humanity out of respect for man as divine image or idea, large portions of humanity have adopted the operational principles of oligarchism in their own life, and extended it, and taken on the roll of the robber that Christ Jesus merely mentioned in the parable, inflicting injuries upon one another, often in huge proportions. The respect for the spiritual identity of man, manifest in care and protection that the Samaritan exemplifies, presents a principle that is fundamentally contrary to the political imposition of Free Trade that vast portions of humanity subscribe to in the hope that it might give them an edge over another nation. This Free Trade 'advantage' has been likened by some to the freedom of the 'fox in the chicken pen.' The process may reap profits for a tiny group of controlling oligarchy, while inflicting injury to countless others. The Samaritan is portrayed in the parable as dealing with the result of oligarchism in a physical sense, but by his actions he is is illustrated as dealing more with the underlying cause by pouring into the wounds of poverty his riches exemplified as oil (consecration) and his wine (inspiration). Thus the parable presents the operational principle of oligarchism, its poverty, and it presents the operational principle for healing this poverty.
In modern times, the social and economic effects of oligarchism exceeds the destructive effects of wars. There is more hunger and deprivation in the world today, than there was during the miseries of World War I and II. Today's death toll from starvation and related diseases exceeds by far the battle casualties of both these wars which were once regarded as the most horrible atrocities ever inflicted by man against man. Today's victims are legions, and most of mankind is walking by on the other side. Today's oligarchism which operates this silent war on humanity, employs a whole arsenal of weapon that create spiritual, moral, and mental poverty, that reflect the oligarchy's own spiritual and moral poverty. The hidden games which today manipulate people into adopting an ever decreasing perception of man, of themselves, and of the human potential, may well be regarded as the most refined game, the most hidden type of evil, and the most difficult to detect attack on humanity.
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